Barbs, Drama Mark UC Presidential Debate

Candidates for the Undergraduate Council presidency traded barbs on everything from the UC’s relevance to their opponents’ backgrounds, last night in a debate staged a day and a half before voting closes.

Before an audience of less than 50, UC outsiders Frances I. Martel ’09 and Roy T. Willey ’09—both of whom are running for the council’s top spot without any experience on the council—attacked the organization’s record of service to its constituents, while the third candidate, current Vice President Matthew L. Sundquist ’09, continued his campaign pitch of experience and past service.

In the meeting’s most charged moment, Martel offered a strident criticism of what she perceived as the council’s removed, exclusive nature.

“As a low-income Hispanic student from a low-income community, where I speak English 30 percent of the time, I can’t tell the difference between Roy and Matt,” she said at one point, drawing a stunned reaction from the crowd.

Sundquist defended the council, struck his blows for the UC’s relevance, and used his opening statement to address the council’s role in the University’s decision this spring to change the academic calendar.

The UC’s involvement in the latter issue had been questioned by the Willey campaign, especially in the wake of a recent Crimson article in which former University President Derek C. Bok was quoted as saying that administrative approval had influenced the decision more than student input.

During the debate, Sundquist questioned whether a UC outsider could reliably assess how difficult dealing the administration can be.

“I think it’s really easy outside the framework of knowing anything about the administration to complain about it and to think that you can just march in there and change things,” he said, adding after the debate that it is easy for the other candidates to “come at the incumbent.”

Outsider Willey, however, said he was skeptical about the importance of administrative familiarity.

“I could have memorized the Harvard administration facebook before I came here, and named every dean,” Willey said. “But that’s not what this is about; this is about change.”

Although united in criticism of the council, the outsiders did not go unbruised by each other.

Late in the proceedings, Martel—in an apparent jab at Willey, a member of the polo team—spoke incredulously of the notion of “middle class polo players who own horses.”

“Regardless of what you would like to say about polo, I don’t own a horse,” said Willey, who has been endorsed by the Harvard Polo Club and the Harvard Republicans. “If you would like to play polo I’d be happy. It’s not an exclusive club like the UC.”

Willey criticized the current council leadership for its failure to deliver on campaign promises and its encouragement of hostile and unproductive relations with administrators.

The Sigma Alpha Epsilon member, who stakes his candidacy on improving campus life, pledged to “fund alcohol for lower income students who cannot afford social events in the Square and off campus.”

Election Commission Chairman Michael L. Taylor ’08 expressed disappointment with the turnout. But he added that about 1,700 students have voted online so far and that, if that rate persists, participation will be on par with previous years.

—Bonnie J. Kavoussi contributed to the reporting of this article.
—Staff writer Christian B. Flow can be reached at cflow@fas.harvard.edu.